Little did Prime Minister Manmohan Singh know that a speech he delivered at Oxford University on the evening of July 8 would be subjected to censorship in the PMO the next morning. Nor did he imagine that after reading the PMO website, where the high marks he gave to the British Raj were deleted from the "full text", a CPI(M) intellectual would pack the "appalling howlers" into an article in the party journal, which in turn would question the Congress' commitment to nationalism. Given that the prime minister's "faux pas" offers the Left yet another opportunity to pick a fight with the UPA Government, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad thought it wise to keep the coming monsoon session of Parliament "short" and possibly "confrontation-free". Play it safe when the comrades are reluctant.

PICTURE SPEAK

MIDDLE GROUND: The UPA won't push contentious bills to avoid showdowns

However, the Congress' bid to make the session politically passive will push a host of important legislations into the "pending" slot once again. Azad has already indicated that the only bill of consequence likely to be cleared in this session will be the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill. But the same cannot be said for the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill. The Left is in no mood to accommodate the UPA Government on this ground after it yielded on several crucial issues like the Patents (Amendment) Bill.

The Left's defence then was that the Government had promulgated an ordinance to facilitate the Patents Bill's passage. But its mood is confrontationist now. "We suggested changes in the Patents Bill, we won't suggest anything on the Pension Bill. The Left will not be party to any compromises," says CPI(M) Politburo member Chittabrata Mazumdar. As the new pension system was born during the NDA regime it is unlikely the BJP will have a problem voting in its favour. So the UPA Government could clear it in the Lok Sabha with Opposition support even if the Left votes against it. However, the Congress seems unwilling to further provoke the Left, which is opposed to privatisation of pension funds and allowing fund managers to dabble in the markets to garner higher rates of interest. The Congress, therefore, has decided to drop the bill for the time being.

ON THE WAITING LIST Some important legislations pending for the past few sessions

PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY BILL: It was introduced in the budget session and referred to the Standing Committee on Finance. The committee was to table its first report in the coming session but after four Left MPs in the panel sent their notes of dissent to Chairperson B.C. Khanduri, the Government is understood to have dropped it from the business list for the time being. WOMEN'S RESERVATION BILL: Like the previous seven-odd sessions, once again, the bill was "supposed" to be introduced in the monsoon session but fearing a lack of consensus, the Government seems to have junked it. On this, most male MPs and many women members from different political parties, barring the Left, have not come out strongly in its favour. TRIBAL FOREST DWELLERS' RIGHT TO FORESTS BILL: It seeks to ensure that Scheduled Tribes settled in forests before 1980 are offered compensation and relocated in other areas so that forest infrastructure is better developed. The Left has protested against the move but may concede if 2001 is taken as the cut-off year, instead of 1980. Within the Congress, a save-the-tiger lobby and a corporate lobby aspiring to manage forest assets are said to be pushing for the bill. The BJP is non-committal. NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE BILL: It is the only pending legislation likely to be cleared in this session if the Standing Committee on Rural Development's report is accepted by the Government. There is political consensus on this bill but the bureaucracy could delay implementation.

While the Left will lock horns with the Congress on pension reforms in the months ahead, another pending legislation of great interest to the Congress, the Tribal Forest Dwellers' Right to Forests Bill, is also unlikely to be tabled this session. The Left wants the bill re-drafted, extending the scope of government settlements to all people who depend on forests for subsistence and not just the Scheduled Tribes. It also alleges that a save-the-tiger lobby as well as a corporate lobby within the Congress are pushing for the bill.

However, even amid all the legislative chaos, there is an understanding among all parties on the fate of the long-pending Women's Reservation Bill which is unlikely to be introduced not just in the coming session but in the near future as well. The clearest stand on the bill so far has come from the Left. Forward Bloc General Secretary Debabrata Biswas says, "The Congress is afraid that its double standards on the issue will be exposed. If it can take the ordinance route for the Patents Bill why can't it do the same with this bill?" Another comrade asks, "Where is Sonia Gandhi's inner voice today?"

The Congress and the BJP do not display their discomfort with the bill in public as they want to be seen as progressive parties eager to empower women. But in reality they have worked out a bizarre proposal called the double-member constituencies in which some constituencies will have two members (male and female). It also entails first increasing the strength of Parliament and state assemblies in order to facilitate reservation of 33 per cent seats for women.

There is no hope in sight for those who expect Parliament to do the kind of legislative business that will make a difference to the lives of the people. Politics takes a heavy toll.

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